Midnight
by swativ1826
Summary: Just a moment
1. One

First time writing and posting. Hope you enjoy. Don't own anything, just a fan.

She felt his presence before she heard the footsteps and a gentle smile graced her face at its own will.

He stood an inch behind her, his shoulder almost touching hers;

"That was one hell of a day", his voice was music to her ears after the noises of the day,

"It sure was.", she said in agreement and leaned back in him to erase the little distance between them and also to give herself a moment to breathe.

He couldn't help but press his lips to the back of her head, breathing her in and letting himself rest as well.

They don't know how long they stood there and didn't even care.

He gently turned her towards him and softly touched the bruise on the side of her right eye but retracted his hand when he saw her slightly flinch.

She gave him a small smile as an assurance that it was okay, she's not going to break, not yet.

He nodded knowing she would never let him know how much it hurt.

It was her turn to tilt his face to the left to examine the gash on the side of his forehead. He sometimes took it a little too far and today was close, too close.

The memories of the day flashed before her eyes and she closed them hoping they would vanish from existence.

He pulled her closer to his chest, wrapping his arms around her wishing he could keep her there for a long time, even forever if she would let him;

"We're okay, it's okay", he whispered in ear and felt her lean further in him.

"I know...",she replied while hugging him properly, holding him close to her, "...but one day it might not be."

He didn't know how to respond to that so he didn't, just held her a little more tightly.

"What time is it?", she suddenly asked him breaking the comfortable silence;

He raised his eyes, surprised by the sudden change of topic,

"I don't know really, it's dark so I'm assuming sometime in the night."

She pulled back immediately, "I mean is it midnight yet?"

He was at a loss as to what brought this on, "I don't know Ilsa, why?"

She quickly ran her hands in her pockets, looking for something;

"Where's your phone?"

"What?", he was nowhere near understanding what was going on with her.

"Your phone?", she asked again;

When he gave her a blank look she smiled and explained further, "Your phone genius, which would tell us the time."

"Oh, right."

As her ran his hands in his pockets she smiled furthermore at his ability to be so clueless at times.

He handed her his phone and the clock showed it was thirty minutes past midnight.

"Now will you tell me what's going on with you and time?", he asked her as she put the phone back in his jacket pocket and then next thing he knew was her arms around his neck and her lips on his.

His brain took a full second to react and then his arms were around her, pulling her further closer to him.

As unexpected as the start of it, the ending was as well.

She gently pulled back, still holding on to him to see his face and by the look of it, the surprise worked.

He managed to get his bearings back quickly, "What was that for...not that I'm complaining, never complaining, just curious, that's all."

His fumbling was too cute for her to not laugh.

And that was probably his favourite sound in the world now, her laugh.

"You don't know what day it is , do you?"

For the the third time in a few minutes he was clueless as to what she was saying.

When he gave her the blank look again, her expression changed from amusement to kindness as she ran her hand on the side of his face to rest on his neck and spoke very softly;

"Happy birthday Ethan."


	2. Two

_Didn't plan on continuing, but had this in my head so thought, why not?_

 _Hope you like it. Don't own anything, still just a fan._

The celebration was quiet, but fun. The conversations were light as everyone welcomed the distraction from the normal after-mission silence they usually are in.

"Well, who knew you had a manufacture date, Ethan.", said Luther while getting up;

A collective chuckle was heard from the team;

"Where you going?", Ethan asked,

"I'm gonna call it a night...", he turned towards Ilsa, "...thanks for the time out.", he ended with a smile.

She smiled back at him, "Most welcome, Luther."

"I'm going to catch a shut eye myself...", Benji added while also getting up, "...and it's good to know that you didn't just materialise out of thin air."

Another collective chuckle from the team;

"Thanks, Benji.", came the reply from Ethan.

She couldn't stop herself from looking at him. This was the first time she had seen him so relaxed and calm, and if she wasn't mistaken, happy.

And when his eyes caught hers, the silence was enough for everyone to know, it was time to leave.

"All right.", Luther pointed out before him and Benji started walking away, but after a few steps turned back and gave a stern look to the person sitting in the middle of the two;

"What? I want to watch.", came the reply from Brandt;

Before Luther could give him a word;

"Goodnight, Brandt.", Ethan politely smiled and that was it.

"Okay, okay...", he gave in as he got up and started walking away, "...this is what it comes to, I get it...", he continued to talk, "...I mean, she is prettier than us."

That got a laugh out of her and Ethan.

"Night, guys."

Then a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' was heard from the three men walking away, which caused another round laughter from the two left behind.

After it died, they sat there for a few seconds in silence, not because they didn't know what to say, but because they had so much.

He broke the silence first, "Thank you."

She smiled in return, "So you've said. A few times, actually."

"Never enough."

She ducked her head trying to keep the smile breaking from her face hidden;

"I still don't know how you did it.", he said while closing the distance and came to sit right next to her with their shoulders brushing.

"Well, you're not the only one who has friends in higher offices.", she replied as their eyes met and they realised they were a few inches apart.

"I have to say, I'm impressed."

"I thought you might be."

They leaned in at the same time, till their lips found each other. Neither pushed further and after a few seconds, they gently broke apart, resting their foreheads together.

"You know I've been thinking.", he said as he pulled back to look at her;

"Oh no.", her eyes widened at the statement wondering what he has cooked up in his head.

"Don't worry, its nothing crazy.", he quickly replied at her reaction.

"Ethan, you and I have a slightly different definition of 'crazy'.", she deadpanned at him.

He chuckled knowing she was right, "Yes, but, what I'm thinking, you thought of it first, and yes, its a little crazy, but, that's on you."

She raised her eyebrows, "Well, do tell."

He took her hand in his and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, took a deep breath before speaking,

"Come away with me."

When she didn't reply for a few seconds, which felt like minutes he continued;

"I know it's not the time, with everything going on and we might have a little difficulty in convincing hq...",

"Okay."

"...but I'm sure the team's going to be okay with this, you know...",

"Okay."

"...and we'll make a short trip, we'll be back before anyone even notices..",

"Ethan!.", she finally spoke loud enough to make him listen;

He paused and looked at her, a beautiful smile gracing her face;

"You already agreed, didn't you?"

She let out a small laugh and pulled him closer, hugging him tight;

"Yes, I did, you genius."

He let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and pulled her closer as humanly possible,

"Okay."


	3. Thanks

_This is not a chapter, just a thank you for all the reviews , means a lot._

 _I probably might end up writing more, so thank you._

 **TaurielKili1976** : _Thank you so much for reading. The 'never enough' was unintentional but when I realised it, I stuck with it cause , why not? Her performance was amazing in that song :)_

 _I did see the lastest, first day and it was awesome. Absolutely awesome._

 **MissWhimsical03** : _Thank you for reading. My main reason for writing this was because of the lack of stories about them and I love them too :)_

 **Vapourtrailreads** : _Thank you so much for reading. I missed Brandt's character more than I thought I would in the movie so tried to ease that here. Honestly I don't know how the concept of spirit animals works, so sorry can't help you there :)_

 **Guest** : _Thanks for reading and the approval :) And I think Ethan has a lot going in his head, his own birthday would probably won't even be on the list._

 **Micaslopez123** : _Thank you so much for reading. I'm glad it made you smile :)_


	4. Three

_Not the best writing, still hope you like it and I'll try to get it right next time._

 _Still don't own anything._

"You said 'left'."

"No, I said 'right'."

"No, you said 'left'."

"Ilsa, I know what I said, okay."

"Ethan, I'm sitting next to you, I think I can understand the difference between 'right' and 'left'."

"Maybe you couldn't hear me over the noise you're making us listen on the radio."

That pulled the last straw;

"Stop the car.", she needed to get out, before she punches his perfect face;

He can't do this now, "What?"

"Stop the car, Ethan."

He started to oppose, but the look on her face advised him to the contrary;

He slowly pulled the car on the side of the road. As soon as it stopped, she got out, he remained in his seat and dropped his head on the wheel.

A few minutes passed before he got out. As he looked over at her all the frustration, anger of the past five hours vanished.

The afternoon sun was dazzling her face up, the wind gently blowing her hair back and forth, just like out of the movies.

As he stood there he realised that she also, like him, was trying to make the biggest risk of their lives work.

He did the only thing that he wanted to do, gently wrapped his arms around her from behind, half way expecting to be elbowed, but when she immediately leaned into him, the tension between them melted away.

"I didn't think it was going to be this hard.", she spoke softly;

"This is not even the hardest part.", he pointed out.

"I know, and I also know that I have never argued with anyone for five hours straight in my life."

He chuckled at her statement, "Neither have I."

"I'm just not used to...",

"Not holding the wheel.", he finished for her with a smile.

She smiled back at him, "Yes."

He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and felt her let out a sigh, "How about neither of us hold the wheel?"

She looked back at him with alarm, "Okay, see, this is the hard part. Ethan, I'm not doing anything that will involve me being anywhere but on land."

He laughed out at her genuine but adorable reaction;

"What I meant was, how about we ditch this car and map, get ourselves a couple of bikes and just, pick a road."

Her smiled widened, "Now, that sounds like a plan."

He didn't know whether it was the stress of the day, the picture perfect location or just the sight of her smile, but the words flew out before he could even tell his brain to pull the brake;

"God, I love you."

The smile vaporised in an instant and the only thing between them was silence.


	5. Four

_This is deviating from the fluff, so let me know what you think. Thank you for reading._

 _Still don't own a damn thing._

The hand on her shoulder made her open her eyes to find Benji standing with a mug;

"Here.", he gently handed it to her and sat down beside her.

She barely noticed Luther coming to sit on the other side;

"He'll be fine.", his voice quieter than normal;

"Yeah...", Benji added, trying to sound calm, "...he's been through worse, you know."

She was still trying to comprehend what had happened;

"It was one second's difference. One second. If I saw that guy..."

"Don't.", Luther interjected, "Don't even think about it.

All us were there. None of us saw him, hell, I was the one incharge of the cameras."

"Yeah...", Benji added as well, "...and I was ten feet away and I didn't see him."

"And I..,"

They looked up to see Brandt, who bend down in front of her, "...I was standing next to him. I was supposed to be on the lookout and I couldn't see the man who shot Ethan."

She closed her eyes trying to erase the events of the past few hours, but failing miserably.

"If there is one thing we know for certain, is that he is a fighter...", Brandt said with the confidence they all needed to hear, "...and he will be fine."

That actually helped and for a moment her mind drifted;

"I never said it back."

"What?", Benji asked as he heard her mumble to herself.

For the first time in a few hours she looked up,

"I didn't say it back. It was true. but it was too soon, so I thought maybe in a few weeks time and then we were called back and I never got to say it back."

The three men looked at each other;

"You got any idea what she's saying?", Luther asked the other two;

"Not a clue."

"No idea."

They sat in silence for the next three hours waiting patiently and then they saw a man walk towards them;

They stood up and let her take the lead.

She held her breath as the doctor started to explain, he'll make it through, that's all she heard, that's all she needed to hear and as soon as he finished;

"Can I see him?"

The doctor allowed one of them and she looked at the three men standing behind;

"Go. Before you crumble down.", Luther told her before she got a word out.

"Thank you.", she said with a small gracious smile.

As she entered the room, for a second, it was hard to recognise the man on the bed.

As she came to stand by his side, the doctor started explaining something about something, but all her focus was on his face, which looked different with the mask and the few bruises, but, he was there and he was breathing and it was okay.


	6. Five

_First of all, thank you for each and every one of the reviews, you can't imagine the size of my smile when I read those, thank you very much._

 _Here's another one, hope you like it._

 _Still don't own a thing._

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Ilsa, I'm telling you, I'm fine.", he argued back again.

She let out an exhausted sigh before crossing the table to where he was sitting and wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind;

"You have two weeks of physical left, Ethan. Two weeks."

He started to argue back, but was interjected,

"Then, you can go around catching bad guys yourself and not be stuck in the van, okay?"

Before he could answer back;

"Is he being a baby again?", Luther said while walking in with the other two team members.

"Yes."

"No.", came the respective answers.

She looked at him with a smile, holding back a laugh, "What? You are."

He looked annoyingly at his team members, "I'm telling you guys, I feel fine, no one is believing me."

"Because we know that all you want to do is kick some bad people's butts.", Brandt stated.

"So, for your good health...", Benji added, "...we will believe you when she says we can.", he said while pointing towards Ilsa.

He looked back at her, trying very hard to be upset, but giving up within a second;

"Fine. But, I'm telling you now, the second it's over I'm doing a back flip off the roof."

They all laughed out at that and hers was the sweetest to his ears;

"God I love you.", she said it softly at his ear , but the reaction came from all the four men in the room.

They stood still for about three seconds;

"Alright, time to go.", Luther said as he gestured the other two men,

"Yep, lots to do...", Brandt added,

"Yeah, guns, masks and stuff...", Benji joined in while walking backwards, "...alright, see ya.", and with that the three men practically jogged away.

He gently turned her in front of him to sit on his legs, "I think you scarred them for life."

She chuckled at that, "Well, their going to have to get used to it now.", she ran her hand on his face before settling it on his neck.

"Really?"

"Yep.", came the immediate reply.

He let out a chuckle before giving her a sweet kiss which lasted longer than expected, much to their rest of the team's dismay that had just walked in;

"Oh come on.", Luther exasperated;

"Guys, really!", Brandt expressed at the same time.

They separated in the midst of the their friends loathing with grins on their faces;

"Are you going to be like this all the time?", Benji finally asked with a look of distaste;

She turned her head, without moving from his arms, "Yes, Benji, I think it will be."

Benji then looked at Ethan, who was having a hard time containing his smile and shrugged, "What can say Benji, I am a goner."

All three men let out frustrated sighs amidst the laughter of the two.


	7. Six

_I am going to take a few lines to thank all of you._

 _Vapourtrailsreads, Micaslopez123, Guest:Fallout, MissWhimsical03, TaurielKilli1976, Farmgirl1964, Livale, Guest: Esta, Guest: Catfoxy, Toniteweareyoung, Fallout47._

 _Thank you very very much._

 _Not the fluff stuff, hope you like it. Don't own a thing._

"There was nothing we could do, Ethan."

Luther's voice broke his stare into nowhere;

He looked up with an empty expression, unresponsive to what he just said;

Then he saw Benji and Brandt coming to stand next to Luther;

"Ethan?", Brandt called out,

"Ethan?", he tried again;

"I'm okay.", came the almost whisper of a response.

"Ethan...", Benji started to argue,

"I'm okay, Benji.", came a firmer response from him.

"But...", Luther objected,

"I said I'm fine...", he looked at him in the eyes, "...we need to get out of here."

With that he got up, walked away and left three worried friends behind.

The briefing was a blur, till someone mentioned her name and his eyes focused up;

"Sorry, what?", he asked unaware of the conversation;

"I asked, what were the circumstances under which your team had to leave Agent Faust behind?"

He heard the question, but was having a hard time forming the words, so Brandt stepped in,

"We were being showered in bullets, someone had to draw them away so we could secure the package, Ilsa...", he paused to check himself, "...Agent Faust took the job upon herself and stayed behind to give us time to get to safety."

"She saved our lives.", Luther added.

The man asking the questions stood up, "Alright, then.

We'll let you know your next mission."

His feet found their strength and his words finally found voice, "If you think I will let her stay there, you are out of your mind."

The man frowned, "You know the rules. You get left behind, you're disavowed.", his voice stern.

"And if you know who I am, then you should not argue with me, instead get on the phone to make this work.", he stated as the fact it was.

They stood still for a few seconds before the man gave in and took his phone and turned his back to talk.

Ethan stood in his place, holding his breath. He felt Benji's hand on his shoulder, "We'll find her, with or without them."

He turned to look at him, "I know, thanks."

"Don't mention it.", he whispered back.

The man turned back towards them, putting is phone in his pocket,

"You have 72 hours."


	8. Seven

_It's a very small chapter, but I wanted to post it , so hope you like it and thank you very very much for reading._

 _Still don't own a damn thing._

Finding her was hard, keeping her alive was harder.

They assumed that when the people holding her figured out what she was doing they needed to make sure she told them everything she knew and from the condition they found her in, she didn't tell them nothing.

"She's not out of the woods, we need to wait, that's all we can do."

He slowly sat back in the chair that had been his support for the past six hours;

"But, she's going to be okay?", Benji asked on behalf of everyone.

"Like I said, we need to wait and see, it's too soon to tell."

With that he walked away, leaving the four men in dreading silence.

"Does he realise that he's asking me to do nothing - the one thing I don't know how to do.", Ethan spoke quietly from his place on the chair.

"Well, then you need to learn how to do it.", Luther stated.

"Guess, I have to.", he responded calmly.

"She's like the female you, she's going to be okay.", Benji said with false assurance, knowing no one was buying it.

The four men sat in silence beside each other, hoping, almost praying, for their fifth team member to make it through.


	9. Eight

_I was going to post this and the next one together, but I'm having trouble with adding breaks in between chapters, so I'll post these separately._

 _Hope you like it._

She woke up when he wasn't there, then went back to sleep.

So, he was sitting in the chair beside her bed, waiting for it to happen again and after four hours, nothing.

"You should get that checked out.", the nurse that came in to check her vitals told him while pointing to the scrape on his forehead.

"I'll be fine.", he replied back politely, trying to ignore the pounding headache.

She gave him a small smile and went out.

After a few minutes he felt a hand on his shoulder;

"If I let you sit with that one more minute, I'll get a headache myself...", the same nurse said to him;

Before he could argue back, "...don't worry, you don't have to leave her.", she showed him the first aid tray in her other hand.

"Just sit back and let me do my thing, okay?", she gently requested.

He quietly nodded and let her start the process.

"She'll be okay.", the nurse said after a minute.

He looked up to her, "Then why isn't she waking up?"

"Healing takes time."

They remained quiet for the rest of the time she treated him.

As she was walking out, she heard his voice, "Thank you."

She smiled back at him, "You're welcome."

In the twenty years she had worked here, she treated Ethan Hunt for all sorts of reasons, but not once has seen him come here with an aching heart. She hopes it heals as quickly as his wounds.


	10. Nine

_Hope you like it, thank you very much for reading._

The first thing she understood was that her head was pounding like a bass drum, the next thing next was his hand in hers.

She looked down to see him sleeping in the chair, holding onto her hand and the smile on her face for a moment made her forget the aching wounds.

She watched as he stirred, woke up and slowly focused on her face.

"Hey.", her voice sounded like his, but he didn't seem to mind as he gently put his hand on her face, his face breaking into a smile,

"You're going to be okay.", he spoke softly through the happiness of seeing her eyes again;

She saw his face and said the first thing she noticed,

"I'm the one in the hospital bed and you're the one who looks like hell."

He couldn't stop himself from laughing, feeling his heart on the brink of bursting, "Well, you took a while, so waiting will do that to you."

She managed to smile for him, "Sorry for making you wait."

His smile toned down and took a few moments just to look at her, gently running his hand on her face,

"It was worth it."


	11. Ten

_This was kinda, sorta inspired by a French movie Blind date, so hope you like both the chapters and thank you very very much for reading._

"You are impossibly crazy.", her voice echoed through the speaker of the phone in the empty room.

He smiled at her blank statement, "Really?".

"Yes, you are. Who would try to run a car through a truck...",

"Successfully ran.", he interrupted in between;

"...bottom line, you're crazy."

He laughed out before the door handle turned and he reached for his gun, then lowered it as Benji appeared from behind it.

They nodded at each other,

"You okay?",

"Yeah, you?", Benji asked back.

"Yeah."

"Is that Ilsa on the phone?", Benji asked;

"Yes, it is Benji...", she replied on Ethan's behalf, "...you okay?".

"Yeah, how about you? How's the physical going? You ready to kill your therapist yet?"

That got a laugh out of her, "Not yet, but I'm getting closer and closer to that feeling everyday."

Benji smiled at the apt answer, "By the way, you do know that your man is crazy as hell."

Her laugh echoed in the room and was joined with Benji's as well.

"You know what, I wasn't completely sure till today."

Ethan sat there watching them laugh more at his expense, but he couldn't be any less upset.

The door opened again and both men held their weapons up;

The face of Brandt showed from behind, "The traffic was unbearable."

"Is that the reason for the bleeding arm?", Benji asked as he pulled a chair for him;

"What happened?", Ethan asked as he came to stand over him and took a closer look at the arm.

"Oh, you know, some guys didn't like that we screwed their work up.", he said with clenched teeth as Benji started to clean the wound.

"Let me know their names...",

Brandt turned his head to the phone on the table;

"...and I'll teach them some manners."

Brandt smiled at the ferocity in her voice, "Don't worry, I already taught them. And you really need to get well soon, Ethan's moping is out of control."

"Hey, I don't mope.", came the immediate reply from Ethan.

"Yes, you do.", Benji agreed as well.

"No, I don't."

The door opened again to reveal Luther, "Yes, you do Ethan."

"No, I don't.", he argued back.

As his teammates laughed in chorus and he heard hers as well,

"Ilsa, you too, really?"

Her laugh toned down for a second, "I'm sorry, but you do, they sent me pictures."

"What?!", he turned to his friends who paused for a second...and then doubled their obnoxious laughs.

"Oh, great.", he deadpanned amidst the amusement of his team.


	12. Eleven

"You should get some sleep now.", he spoke quietly when a yawn came from her end.

"You should too.", she replied back.

He smiled at her drowsy response, "I will. Promise."

"You know what?", her voice deep due to the sleep,

"What?"

"I think I miss you.", she said softly;

His smile widened at the pure confession she made,

"Really?"

"Well, you know, not all the time...", he could hear the smile in her voice, "...just when I think about you, which is not all the time at all."

He so wishes he could see her face just about now,

"Well, then I think I miss you too, only when I think about you which is really not all the time either."

They chuckled at each other and then went quiet.

She broke the silence first;

"It's going to be a while till I can get back, you know that, right?", her voice almost brittle;

His smile dissolved at the thought that it will be a long time till he will be able to see her face again;

"Yeah, I know.", his own voice thicker then he expected.

"Good. Then stop the moping please, the team is starting to loose it.", the amusement clear in her words.

He chuckled softly at that, "Alright, for the benefit of the team, I'll tone it down."

"Thank you."

The silence was something they both didn't mind for next few seconds;

"Get some rest Ilsa, goodnight.", he finally said.

"You get some too, night.", came her low reply.

As he removed the phone from his ear, she said something,

"What?", he put it back on;

"I said...love you, Ethan.", she said it low and small.

Now he really wishes he could kiss her, but had to settle for words;

"Love you too, Ilsa."


	13. Twelve

_Thank you for reading:)_

He would never admit this to anyone but, he was missing her like no one would believe.

But, she still had another two weeks of therapy and evaluations left and as much as he wanted to see her, he couldn't leave.

And she understands, because he had to fall in love with a fellow spy who would do everything but, will never ever complain.

Lost in thought he didn't notice the eyes of his teammates on him;

"You know...", Luther started as he came to sit next to him, "...we won't say a word if you want to take a couple days off."

He looked over at him and then to the other two men who just nodded in agreement and he smiled at them,

"I know you won't but, I can't."

"Why not?", Benji asked rather loudly;

He looked at him, surprised at his reaction, "We're in the middle of a mission, Benji."

"So?", Brandt asked before Benji could;

"So...", he looked at all three men who were waiting for an answer, "...we're in the middle of a mission."

"We heard you the first time...", Luther replied on everyone's behalf, "...we wanna know what it has to do with you going to see her."

He smiled at their concern, "Thank you for the offer guys but, I'm not going to leave."

The three men shared a look;

"We figured you might say that.", with that he stood up and the three of them went and stood by the door,

"What are you guys doing?", he asked, confused by their actions.

"If you won't do what you want to do, we will do it for you.", Benji said as he opened the door.


	14. Thirteen

_Thank you very much for reading:)_

 _Don't own a damn thing._

To say that time stood still would be cliché but, to not say it, it would be a lie.

"Hey."

That was the first thing she would say every time they talked and he had to imagine the smile on her face for months and now he didn't.

"Hey.", he managed to say it in low voice.

The smile on her face widened a little as she walked inside with a slight limp;

"Welcome back!", Benji greeted her with a smile and a big hug;

"Thanks Benji.", she laughed but was warmed by his actions.

She was greeted the same way by her other two teammates, all the while sensing his eyes on her.

"You have no idea how happy we are to see you.", Brandt said as he pulled a chair for her to sit;

"Yeah, now that you're here, Benji won't have to leave the van.", Luther added with a chuckle;

She sat down with a wince that didn't go unnoticed by everyone, "Well, sorry Benji, I might need some time before I can relieve you from your non-van duties.", she tried to make it sound light, but her friends didn't think it was funny.

Then, he walked towards her and kneeled in front of her;

"You were supposed to stay for another two weeks.", he said gently while lifting the injured leg to his knee and took her shoe off.

She could barely keep the water works from flowing;

"Yeah, well, you were driving them crazy.",

He looked up to see the smile on her face and his heart could've burst.

They kept staring at each other which made it a little uncomfortable for the rest of the people ;

"Alright...", Brandt started, "...before it gets more awkward than it already is, we are going to leave."

The other men followed quickly and without any words closed the door behind them.


	15. Fourteen

The silence between them was never as impalpable as it was then.

She knew one of them had to start;

"What's wrong?"

He looked up from his task of making sure her bandage was in place and she saw uncertainty in his eyes;

"Nothing, why?"

She tilted her head at his feeble attempt at a lie;

"Really, you're going to...", she paused for a moment, "...okay, if nothing's wrong then why do I get the feeling you're not happy to see me."

He dropped his head on his hand that was on her foot, "I can assure you that the amount of happiness I'm feeling cannot be described in words."

That wasn't a lie, she believed that;

"Then, what it is?", she asked softly while gently running her hand on his head;

"It's just...", he felt her hand on his face and couldn't stop himself from taking a breath in, "...you should have completed your therapy."

She gave him a transparent look, "Really? That's what got you so worried, that I'm bunking therapy?"

He gently put her foot down and got up, "Yeah, I mean, you clearly need more of it."

She shook her head, "Ethan, will you please stop trying to lie to me, it's more exhausting then the flight of stairs I had to climb and why did you rent on third floor?"

"It gives us clear view of the flat in the opposite building."

"Good to know. Now, will you tell me what's wrong?"

He lowered his head, finding it difficult to express himself and she stayed quiet, giving him time to gather his thoughts.

A whole minute passed before he looked up and saw her eyes and it struck him;

"You look beautiful."

She laughed at that, "Really? Well, you look handsome as well, more than I remember."

He again went quiet and she was getting tired, the stairs took a ton of her energy;

"Ethan, I'm going to go to sleep in a few minutes, so you might wanna tell me now."

He could see the tiredness in her eyes and it was his fault;

"I shouldn't have left you."

Because of the fatigue it took her a few seconds to understand and then her brain caught up;

"You can't be serious. Ethan, there was nothing you could have done."

"Actually I have not thought about anything else for months and there was a lot I could've done."

The way he said it, she knew he meant it;

"Come here.", she held her hand out which he took.

She took his arm and got up and sat him in the chair.

He closed his eyes as he sat down and opened them as he felt her sit on his legs, wrapping her arms around his neck;

"You need to listen to me carefully...", she said in a commanding voice, "...it was my decision and mine only, you would've done the same thing, so would've anyone from the team."

"Doesn't make it right."

"No, it doesn't, neither is it fair, but...", she ran her hand on the side of his face, "...this is what we do, Ethan. We make the difficult choices when no one can."

He thought he couldn't love anymore than he did ten seconds ago, but now he knew better.

"You know what kept me going?"

He shook his head and she pressed a small kiss on his forehead, "You."

All he did was look at her and the defeated expression still hadn't left his face;

"I knew for a fact that you would come back, no matter how long it took, you would come back."

"How would you know that?", his voice little, covered in doubt;

Her hands found rest on his neck and she touched her forehead to his;

"Because that's who you are, Ethan. That's what makes you the best man that I have ever known."

He did the only thing that would tell her how he felt, he gently pressed his lips to hers and wrapped his arms around to pull her closer to his chest till their heartbeats were in rhythm.

Something felt different to them both, maybe it was almost losing each other, maybe it was the distance from each other for months, but they found it difficult to let go.

After a few minutes, she pulled apart slowly and rested her forehead on his,

"That's the welcome I was waiting for."

His laugh vibrated between them and was joined by hers as well.

"Well then, welcome back."

He pulled back to see her smile mirroring his own;

"It's good to be back. And just for your knowledge I am not bunking therapy, they gave me early release on the condition that I stay of the field for at least another month."

He nodded in agreement, "I will make sure you do that."

"I know you will.", she replied with a smile.

The exhaustion was catching up fast so she rested her head on his shoulder, which warmed him up as he gently ran his hand on her back;

"If you keep doing that I'm going to fall asleep right here.", came her muffled voice from his shoulder,

He smiled as he continued his actions, "Go ahead, I won't judge."

"No...", she leaned back to look at him, "...but you won't let me live it down either."

He nodded his head vigorously causing a laugh to erupt out of her and a head popped in from the door;

"Is it safe to see?", Brandt said with a hand on his eyes,

The couple chuckled at their friend's behaviour;

"Yes, Brandt it is safe to see.", she replied without moving from his arms,

Brandt removed his hand and smiled, "Cool. Guys it's safe.", he told the men standing behind him.

Benji entered first while keeping his hands behind him which Ethan picked up in an instant;

"What's in your hand, Benji?"

Instead of answering him, he looked at Ilsa with a smile, "You were right, he's so clueless at times."

Her laugh echoed around him as he looked at her with a blank expression which made her laugh even more.

"Yep, the look on his face proves it.", Brandt added as well.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?"

Luther walked up to the couple and raised his hand in front of Ethan's face;

When he was met with another blank expression, she thought it was best to help her man out,

"The time, Ethan."

He looked at her and then the watch on Luther's hand;

"It's fifteen past twelve, what about it?"

"Okay...", Luther gave up, "...Ilsa, you already had my respect, now you have my sympathy too, this guy is impossible."

She chuckled at his impatience, "It's alright Luther, I got it, Benji?"

Benji brought his hand to the front to reveal a small cake;

She ran her hand on his face and whispered softly, "Happy Birthday, love."

 _This brings it to a full circle, thank you very very very much for reading._

 _I'm going to write a sequel to this cause I still have a few ideas in my head, maybe in a few days time._

 _Again, thank you very much for reading and for the sweetest, sweetest reviews for my first story ever._

 _The amount of acceptance and love you guys have shown for this story is amazing._

 _Thank you and I'll be back with a new story for you guys in a few days._

 _Still don't own a damn thing:)_


	16. Sequel

_The sequel to this is called 'Dawn' and the first chapter is up, do check it out and hope you like it._

 _Thanks for reading:)_


	17. Side note

_This is just a thank you to all of you who take your time out to read my stories cause I feel like I don't express it properly. For someone who's writing is only a few months old, nothing is a greater encouragement than acceptance._

 _Thank you for reading my writing and allowing me to continue with this unexpected passion of mine ( I say this because I honestly didn't think I could write shit, let alone entire stories and now writing my first novel)._

 _So thank you again and a million more times for reading and leaving those sweet, beautiful and encouraging reviews, I love you all for them._


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